3d Printing Servo Controlled and Other Valves

Introduction: 3d Printing Servo Controlled and Other Valves

Very functional valves that can control air or water can be easily 3D printed. I am mainly using them for the control of artificial air muscles for robots, but they can be used in many situations where a small and inexpensive valve is needed. This instructable shows how to make micro-servo controlled valves, gate valves, check valves, and adjustable flow valves. Intro pic shows all the valves.

Step 1: How It Works

I believe that the future of robotics will involve the use of soft artificial muscles that are powered by air pressure. To control them, various kinds of valves are necessary. Most of these 3D printed valves work by pinching or kinking a soft silicone tubing. All of the valves have been tested at 30 PSI but will probably work at higher pressures.

In the case of the servo controlled valve, it is actually 3 valves controlled by one servo. They can be all off or they can be opened one at a time. A cam that presses against a cam-follower is rotated to open the valves. As shown in pic 2, the servo controlled valve can replace 3 conventional solenoid valves.

It does this at a much smaller volume, weight, and cost. The servo controlled 3 valves can be made for about 7 dollars, while the conventional solenoid valves typically cost about 20 dollars each. The servo controlled valves also use considerably less power than the solenoid valves.

Step 3: 3D Print a Servo Controlled Valve

The servo controlled valve is actually 3 valves. They can be all off or they can be opened one at a time. A cam that presses against a cam-follower (camfollower.stl) is rotated to open the valves. The servo controlled valve can replace 3 conventional solenoid valves. It has been tested to over 4000 cycles and did not show significant wear on the parts.

Pic3 shows how a cut down servo horn slots into the cam.

Pic4 and pic5 show the valve closed and under 22psi pressure and then open to activate a 3d printed artificial muscle.

Print The Valve

A Makerbot Replicator 2 was used to print this and the other valve parts. Here are the settings:

Step 5: 3D Printed Check Valve

The check valve lets air or liquid flow one way only. It consists of two 3d printed housing parts that are glued together with a thin piece of acrylic between them. The acrylic has a 1/16 inch hole drilled in it. A thin cast membrane of silicone is loosely placed in between the acrylic and one of the housing parts. The silicone is cast using the form that is 3d printed along with the two housing parts. Two part silicone or Oogoo can be used to make the membrane.

Once the housing parts are glued lightly with fabric glue to the acrylic, the vinyl tubing is inserted and the whole thing dipped in fabric glue that has been thinned with MEK solvent: 3 glue to 1 MEK by volume. Let it dry for an hour and then dip it for a second time to get a good seal. Do this outside or under a fume hood as the fumes are not healthy to breathe.

Let it dry overnight before testing. Step 5 pic shows all the parts and an assembled check valve.The acrylic plate was left larger than necessary so that its position is apparent.

Step 6: 3D Printed Adjustable Flow Valve

The adjustable flow valve uses the same principal as the servo valve where a cam follower pinches the tube until it shuts. In this case, the pinch is adjustable by a 4-40 screw with a captive nut to give it a variable flow control.

Step 7: Other Possibilities

Scaling The Valves UpThe valves were designed for 1/8 inch silicone tubing in order to make them as small as possible and still have good air flow. They can probably be scaled up to use larger diameter silicone tubing. Larger tubing usually has a thicker wall, so more force will be required to pinch them. For the servo valve, a larger servo would be required and the servo base and cam would probably need to be modified.

Step 7 pic shows a soft robot gripper and artificial muscle that is in development and can be controlled by the servo valve in this instructable.

Using the tubing mentioned in materials, I have tested the servo controlled valves to over 2100 cycles without any leaks. So the tubing, which is easily replaced, will probably be good for several thousand cycles.

One more question - I'm building the servo controlled valve in step 3, and I need some clarifications. The smalol green pieces - is the tubing supposed to pass through the hole in them? Do they need to be freely moving, or easy to move? If you could provide a better description, that would be awesome! I will post pictures when done!

Yes, the small green cam followers should be freely moving in the slots in the servo base. The tubing passes through the hole in the cam follower. The cam exerts pressure on the cam follower which crimps the tubing to stop the flow of air or liquid.

Nice 3D Printable Valves. I was just looking around for something like this. Would you be able to upload the bellow 3D model file, pictured in step 3, and the soft robot gripper, pictured in step 7? Very well designed!

I am working on a robot that has an arm that uses that gripper and several kinds of 3d printed artificial muscles. As soon as it has been refined and tested, I will post an instructable with STLs for the whole robot.